Here is your chance to win VIP tickets to see Arsenal face Blackburn in the Premier League at the Emirates on Saturday in a game that is vital to Arsene Wenger's outfit's season.

After the disappointing run of form, Wenger will be desperate to see off the Rovers challenge and grab three points so crucial in the Gunners' bid to capture a top four spot.

Here is your chance to win VIP tickets to see Arsenal face Blackburn in the Premier League at the Emirates on Saturday in a game that is vital to Arsene Wenger's outfit's season.

After the disappointing run of form, Wenger will be desperate to see off the Rovers challenge and grab three points so crucial in the Gunners' bid to capture a top four spot.

Clint Dempsey hit a second-half hat-trick to lead his Fulham side to an unlikely 5-2 victory over Newcastle United at Craven Cottage in one of the most eye-catching football scores of the day.
It was a typical case of a game of two halves as Fulham wrestled the initiative from Newcastle after a one-sided first half.

Finally another addition hits the roster with United's acquisition of Maicon Santos. In another time, with a different club, I might be pleased with this pickup. As it stands, I'm just left feeling suspicious.
Why?
While Santos has a reasonable history with the league (and so will not have to suffer through a period of adapting to the style of play), his mediocre goal tally (14 goals in 2.

FC Barcelona continued with their winning streak at home in La Liga with a very hard fought 4-2 victory against an inspired Real betis side. The match started very brightly for us going 2-0 up within 12 minute, then turned into a nightmare when Real Betis equalised early into second half.

On a serious, and I mean se-ri-ous level, I have no idea how Wayne Rooney could have been voted into the FIFA World XI over Robin van Persie.
Apparently over 50,000 professional footballers from across the world submitted their votes for the World XI team. And somehow, Rooney was voted in.

by Adam Bate

Jordan Rhodes has certainly got the Premier League's attention. As many as eight top flight clubs were represented at Huddersfield Town's game against Wycombe Wanderers last week. And they are likely to have been impressed – the striker bagged five goals in a remarkable display.

Written by FatGingerGooner

Much has been written recently in both the tabloids and on blog sites about Arsenal's need for a striking partner/understudy for RvP, so with the transfer window well and truly upon us, I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to look at the possible candidates for the position.

Photo tribute to Fernando Torres' THREE Chelsea goals in 2011

A chronological timeline of photos from Torres' first 12 months at Stamford Bridge, including league goal tally!

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2012-01-01 09:45:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

With just a point separating the two sides, Liverpool take on Newcastle United at Anfield on Friday, knowing the importance of a win.
After six games without victory, Newcastle beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at the Reebok Stadium on Monday.
Alan Pardew's men had only taken two points from their previous six games, before Hatem Ben Arfa and Demba Ba scored in the second half to topple Bolton and get within a point of sixth-placed Liverpool on the English Premier League table.

Magpies Fly To Anfield

Andy, what do you think of Kuyt's new jeans? "Eh, they're alright i spose."... Newcastle make the trip to Anfield on Friday bringing with them Demba Ba, the man who has stepped up to fill the massive boots left by Andy Carroll. Unfortunately for Liverpool it's Demba Ba who can boast the greater goal tally but with Luis Suarez serving a ban for this match will Andy Carroll take his chance to put a sock in the critics mouths?

Andy, what do you think of Kuyt's new jeans? "Eh, they're alright i spose."...Newcastle make the trip to Anfield on Friday bringing with them Demba Ba, the man who has stepped up to fill the massive boots left by Andy Carroll. Unfortunately for Liverpool it's Demba Ba who can boast the greater goal tally but with Luis Suarez serving a ban for this match will Andy Carroll take his chance to put a sock in the critics mouths?

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits Blackburn striker Ayegbeni Yakubu poses a threat at Anfield tomorrow, but is confident his in-form defence will keep the Nigerian quiet.
Rovers' summer signing from Everton has 10 Barclays Premier League goals - including four in one match against Swansea three weeks ago - this season.

Liverpool will reportedly look to lure Koln attacker Lukas Podolski to Anfield as the Merseyside club looks to beef up their attacking options following the FA ban handed to top scorer Luis Suarez.
Director of Football Damien Comolli has earmarked a move for the Polish born German international after seeing Suarez handed an eight match ban and was already scouting the 26 year old as Liverpool have been struggling for goals and have been far to dependent on the Uruguayan international.

With the loss of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon on Sunday, Spurs lost much of the potency that had helped them climb the Premiership table and into third place.

Ultimately we won the game but if you saw a brief but apt Match of the Day package on Sunday night, you'll have seen where Bale in particular, was sorely missed.

Wayne Rooney scored his first league goal since September as Manchester United crushed Wolves 4-1 on Saturday. But with all the analysis and comments that followed an eventful week for Rooney, one quote stood out.

As well as stating that ‘Wayne was brilliant', United defender Phil Jones went on to say, ‘but he still has an influence on the team even when he is not scoring.

Goals, goals, goals. With Liverpool wasting chance after chance, profligacy to blame for home draws with Norwich, Swansea, and Sunderland as well as away losses to Stoke and Fulham, the number of goals scored has become both millstone and mantra, a clear problem in obvious need of fixing, the major fault keeping the side from reaching its full potential.

I swear that's his full name.

You can't see this...

To preface, I love Kalou. Yes, 'tis true. I've been rooting for his individual success moreso than most players in our squad. Particularly, it seems, because he just gives off the vibe of being a generally nice dude.

Arsenal claimed a fifth-straight Premier League victory after coming from behind to beat Norwich City 2-1 at Carrow Road.

Steve Morison gave the Canaries the lead against the run of play on 17 minutes after some lacklustre defending from Per Mertesacker, only for the Gunners to level just before the half-hour mark, predictably enough through Robin van Persie.

By Chris Wright

Not that it really mattered, but England broke a 43-year hoodoo by beating Sweden for the first time in 13 games at a sparsely-populated Wembley last night, with the narrow victory also affording them their first defeat-less calendar year since 1994.

Darren Bent's brace against Norwich on Saturday took his Premier League career goal tally to 96, he's just four short of joining the Ton Up Club.

It's a pretty exclusive club with former Villans Dwight Yorke and Dion Dublin, plus current Villan Emile Heskey, among its 20 members.
Bent's definitely got his eye on getting past the doorman, he told the official site:

I've still got a few things I'd like to achieve, like 100 Premier League goals.

In a huge disappointment to fans of dreadlocks everywhere, no white men with dreads are likely to hoist the MLS Cup this year.

Los Angeles will host the Houston Dynamo on November 20, as both teams won their conference finals by a two goal margin. Unfortunately for Houston, the Galaxy remains undefeated at home in 2011.

By Chris Wright

Just the five? How disappointing.

Manchester City (or more accurately, their second string) made it 21 goals scored in their last five matches with a 5-2 rollocking of Wolves at Molineux last night easing into the Carling Cup quarters alongside Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn, Cardiff and Crystal Palace.

AS Saint Etienne vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Coupe de la Ligue 2011-12, Round of 16.

It was this cup victory that sparked the rise of the club in the decade gone by. Coupe de la Ligue is back for another year. Olympique Lyonnais may have moved to bigger, better and eventually more elusive title challenges lately, but a Ligue cup remains an important opportunity not only for clubs from lesser tiers to challenge the top teams, but for established teams to try out the depth of their squads.

NEW YORK (Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011) – With 16 goals, D.C. United forward Dwayne De Rosario has claimed the 2011 Budweiser Golden Boot, awarded to the League's top goal scorer at the end of the regular season.
De Rosario's career-high goal tally tied him with San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski for the league lead this season.

Arsene Wenger was indebted to substitute Robin van Persie after the Dutchman scored twice to sink Stoke 3-1 in the Barclays Premier League.

Wenger's decision to start his captain on the bench almost backfired as they had only Gervinho's strike to show for their dominance in the first half.

You've gotta love the look on that girl's face : "Messi?? Quiero que mi sopa de letras!" ("I only want my Alphabet soup!") Ah, remember when you were 11 years old and spent hours daydreaming about being a child football mascot for the Champions League and/or walking out, holding a player's greasy hands?

Wayne Rooney's goal scoring form has been on top level in this early part of the season, scoring nine goals in Manchester United's first seven matches before that record got halted because of his injury.

This kind of performances simply encouraged United's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, into believing that Rooney could eventually break the club's goal scoring record, which currently being held by Sir Booby Charlton.

Wednesday's Champions League action saw wins for Europe's elite clubs with Barcelona, AC Milan and Arsenal all securing wins with Chelsea being the only exception.

The Blues settled for a 1-1 draw in Valencia after taking the lead early in the second half thanks to a Frank Lampard goal.

Positive results earned by two Londoners on their Champions League matches as Arsenal grabbed their first win in the group stage after beating Olympiakos 2-1 at Emirates, while Chelsea got a point from 1-1 draw against Valencia in Spain.

Two summer signings, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andre Santos contributed the goals for the Gunners, while at Mestalla, Frank Lampard's goal was canceled out with a late penalty because of Salomon Kalou's handball.

Demba Ba got his Newcastle goal tally up and running against Blackburn on Saturday at Saint James' Park in sensational fashion. After early indifference from some, when he was not quite up to pace due to his religious commitments, he's slowly started to build his fitness. He started to show some of his movement, touch [.

Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

After seeing Charlie Davies, Teal Bunbury and Jozy Altidore all find goal-scoring success over the last week, Edson Buddle did his part to re-enter the U.S. Soccer forward conversation with a strong aerial display for FC Ingolstadt on Friday.

By CALEB SONNELAND

An impressive hat-trick from Lamar Neagle sealed a big result for Seattle coach Sigi Schmid in a wild 6-2 victory over Eastern Conference top dogs Columbus Crew.

Columbus, missing Julius James through suspension, elected to replace the defender with Rich Balchan.

Which are the best games of the season? Well, to me they have always been the Autumn midweek night games. The games start in sunshine and finish under floodlights, it is early season so the fans are excited, the team has gone through pre-season and are all fit and raring to go. These are nights that live long in the memory.

And they say no-one learns anything from friendlies? We learned that Raul Meireles is significantly hotter than we first thought during his side's game vs. Luxembourg. So there! Image: AP Photo/Daylife

With England's game vs. Holland cancelled, we gave our UK office the night off. Apologies to anyone who may have encountered them in their local bar last night.

Player Profile: Luis Suarez

AnfieldIndex Liverpool FC Stats | Liverpool FC Blog | Liverpool FC Forum Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz, you may know him as just Luis Suarez or El Pistolero (for the way he celebrates his goals). It seems that as Liverpool fans we just can't get enough of our £22.

Rick Curwen, community bloggerAll Timbers fans will be hoping Jorge Perlaza will increase his season goal tally against Chicago Fire after scoring the Timbers' second goal against Seattle Sounders at Jeld-Wen Field last Sunday. If you are looking for somewhere...

So it seems like a lot of various soccer related blogs and news sites are creating a sort of "mid season" award piece which highlights the best of what MLS has to offer. Unfortunately, the Portland Timbers haven't graced many lists. I guess being near the bottom of the standings will do that. But that doesn't mean we should be left out of the mid-season awards fun altogether!

So the little magician from Rosario turns 24 today. Quite an young age for a player who has already achieved so many feats in his career. The two time World Player of the Year was born on 24th of June 1987 in Rosario and we all know very well the journey he took into our hearts. It would an understatement to say Carles Rexach, the sporting director who signed Messi may not have imagined him being such a fine player.

And so the career of Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, or just plain old "Ronaldo" to the rest of us, was officially recognised in Tuesday night's Brazil versus Romania international in which the great man was allowed to play 15 minutes before saying a fond farewell to the thousands of fans who'd come to see him play in São Paulo.